Agenda item

In November 2011, Members approved the Green Corridors projects which was a three year programme of planting up to 50 trees on highways in the City, to be wholly funded by Transport for London (TfL) at an estimated total cost of £415,000 (£65,000 Year 1, £175,000 Year 2 and £175,000 Year 3).  Members also delegated approval to the Director of the Built Environment to agree the location of the trees.

The Year 3 programme was currently underway however, the budget available from the TfL funding allocation was reduced from £175,000 to £100,000 as these funds were allocated to other projects. Therefore, fewer trees than originally anticipated were planned.

An additional £30,000 of the TfL funding has recently become available for the Green Corridors programme in the current financial year which would facilitate an increase in the existing tree planting schedule. These funds were originally intended to be allocated to the Pedestrian Modelling Project but due, due to the length of the tender process they would not be able to be spent by the end of March 2014.  In order to utilise these funds in the current financial year and facilitate the Open Spaces annual planting season between December 2013-March 2014, the current budget would need to be increased to £130,000 (£100K + £30K) to ensure the timely procurement of tree specimens/tree grilles and associated resources by 31^st November 2013.

This item was therefore to seek approval for the current TfL award of £100,000 (Year 3 – Green Corridors programme) to be increased to £130,000 to ensure the funds were expended efficiently by 31^st March 2014.  A breakdown of costs associated with TfL funded Green Corridors Year 3 project are in the Table below:

Table 1: Estimated Implementation Cost Breakdown (Year 3)

RESOLVED – That the proposed increase in the current Green Corridors Year 3 budget from £100,000 to £130,000 (highlighted in Table 1) in light of the availability of £30,000 of TfL funding for the current financial year (2013/2014) be approved.